After taking a 40-36 lead against their cross-state rivals with a well-executed half of basketball, the Cougars came unglued under Washington’s pressure.

Instead of sharing the ball as they had early, WSU started taking things personally and trying to attack Washington one-on-one. They started rushing shots, resulting in 13 straight misses to open the second half.

Worst of all, they seemed to lose the tough, aggressive nature that had them woofin’ and chest-thumpin’ in the early going.

“That,” Bone said, “was a disaster in the second half. I think the Huskies showed who they are some nights. They showed us. That last 20 minutes was a pretty frustrating experience. But give UW credit. They pretty much put us in our place.”

WSU leading scorer Klay Thompson found his place was on the bench for the opening minutes of both halves as a disciplinary measure after being late for the team bus when it left campus Friday for the Pullman airport.

But his late arrival wasn’t nearly as critical as his absent shooting touch as the 6-foot-6 sophomore went just 2-of-15 from the field en route to a season-low seven points, well off his Pac-10 leading average of 22.3.

Klay Thompson, the Cougars’ leading scorer, sits on the bench in the second half Saturday after hitting just 2-of-15 shots against the Huskies. (AP photo/Ted S. Warren)

Thompson said the benching was warranted, but didn’t affect his performance since he played his normal amount of minutes. The problem, he said, simply rested with his errant stroke.

“I’m just not making shots,” said Thompson, who went 5-of-17 in his previous outing at UCLA. “They play good defense. But still, there were five or six times I was wide open and just didn’t make the shot.”

Bone said he thinks his highly-regarded shooting guard is pressing. Thompson has hit just 36.8 percent from the field (56 of 152) over his past 10 outings, dropping his season average to 44.9.

“The U-Dub played good defense on him and he’s not shot well for a few games,” said Bone. “This is not his first poor shooting night.

“I think he’s pressing. He knows he’s a great shooter and if he went out in the gym right now, he might hit 90 out of 100 3s with no one on him. He’s a prolific shooter. But he’s trying as hard as he can to make shots and he’s probably pressing a little, trying too hard to shoot it well.

“Second of all, teams are aware of him. Even though he hasn’t shot it real well, they’re aware of where he’s at at all times and it’s hard for him to get good looks. We run stuff for him and do things to try to get him the ball because we know what he’s capable of doing, but he’s had a hard time putting the ball I the basket of late.”

Asked if he agrees with his coach that he’s pressing, Thompson replied in sullen fashion.

“I guess so,” he said. “If he thinks that, I guess I am.”

Most of the Cougars’ exuberance disappeared after their outstanding start. Freshman point guard Reggie Moore, a former Rainier Beach standout, put up 13 points in his first return to Seattle, but seemed to get caught up trying to challenge UW’s Venoy Overton and Isaiah Thomas.

Moore has been outstanding this season, but had eight turnovers Saturday, doubling his previous high this year of four.

“It felt a little weird going against Isaiah and Venoy,” said Moore, who was an AAU teammate of Overton’s in high school summer ball. “I usually play with those guys, so it was a little different.

“I’ve known Venoy for a long time. That’s my boy. He’s real cool.”

But the Cougars weren’t quite as cool in their response to Washington’s increased aggression in the second half.

“They just came out and went right at us,” said Moore. “We have to learn how to handle that and go back at them.”

Bone didn’t seem too concerned with Moore getting out of his game against Overton, saying the Cougars rely on their freshman to be aggressive. But the former UW assistant does understand what Overton can do to anybody he guards.

“Maybe,” Bone said when asked if Moore tried to go one-on-one a little too much. “But I was asking Reggie to attack. So whether it was Venoy on him or anybody else, we were asking Reggie to be aggressive and get to the paint.

“And Venoy, that’s just Venoy. He’s a heckuva defender. I wish we had him on our team.”

As for his own team, Bone said the Cougars need to get stronger. They need more depth. And they need to blue-print what they did for the first 20 minutes Saturday and carry that play forward.

“I was very proud of the job they did in the first half,” Bone said. “They played with poise, executed well, shared the ball. They did a lot of good things on both ends of the court.

“But the second half, I was disappointed in the lack of toughness and energy that we need. No matter where we go or who we play, we’ve got to bring toughness and energy better than we showed tonight.”